The archive · Space, Robots, Defence · Financial decision · 2011–2025
Volocopter's eVTOL air-taxi bet ends in insolvency; Wanfeng buys assets for €10M
German eVTOL pioneer filed for insolvency in Dec 2024 without a type certificate; Wanfeng Group bought its assets for €10M in March 2025.
Volocopter
What the business is
A Bruchsal, Germany eVTOL maker developing the two-seat VoloCity air taxi and the larger VoloRegion, aiming at urban air mobility services.
Starting capital：Backed by Mercedes-Benz and Honeywell; Geely led a €50M Series C in 2019 with Daimler participating. No reliable total-funding figure in reviewed sources.
How it started
Founded in 2011 in Bruchsal by Alexander Zosel and Stephan Wolf, Volocopter pitched electric vertical-takeoff air taxis for cities. It drew industrial backers such as Mercedes-Benz, Honeywell and, from 2019, Geely, and planned to launch commercial flights at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
What happened
By late 2024 Volocopter had about 500 employees (down from roughly 700) and show flights near Versailles, but no EASA type certificate. A bid for up to €100M in state loan guarantees failed in April 2024; separate requests for €50M each from the federal government and Bavaria also came to nothing. The company filed for insolvency at Karlsruhe local court on 26 December 2024, and Tobias Wahl was appointed provisional administrator with a restructuring plan due by end of February 2025.
How it ended up
On 5 March 2025 administrator Wahl signed an asset purchase agreement with heptus 591.GmbH, a unit of China's Wanfeng Group, owner of Austrian aircraft maker Diamond Aircraft. Wanfeng paid €10M for Volocopter's tangible assets, intellectual property and certain contracts, whose book value was about €42M; fewer than half of employees were expected to return. The revived company kept the Volocopter brand and resumed VoloCity certification with Diamond's team.
Background
Volocopter was founded in 2011 in Bruchsal, Germany by Alexander Zosel and Stephan Wolf to build electric vertical-takeoff air taxis for cities. It attracted industrial investors including Mercedes-Benz and Honeywell, and in 2019 Geely led a €50M Series C with Daimler taking part, positioning the company as Europe's best-known urban air mobility developer.
The bet depended on certification timing: VoloCity had to win an EASA type certificate before the money ran out. By December 2024 the company had about 500 staff and demo flights near Versailles, but no certificate. A request for up to €100M in state loan guarantees failed in April 2024, and Volocopter filed for insolvency at Karlsruhe local court on 26 December 2024, with Tobias Wahl appointed provisional administrator.
In March 2025, China's Wanfeng Group bought the assets through its Diamond Aircraft unit: heptus 591.GmbH paid €10M for tangible assets and intellectual property with a book value of about €42M. The deal was announced by Wanfeng's listed parent Wanfeng Aowei, which framed it as a cheap entry into eVTOL manufacturing, and fewer than half of Volocopter's employees were expected to resume work.
The revived company kept the Volocopter brand and restarted VoloCity certification with Diamond's experienced team, while original shareholders were wiped out. The case mirrored Lilium's collapse weeks earlier and fed a German debate about whether the state should back capital-intensive aerospace startups.
What has to be true
- Volocopter raised public and industrial capital for 13 years without a commercial passenger flight, making the whole venture a bet that certification would arrive before funding ran out.
- The fatal moment was financing, not technology: when €50M federal and €50M Bavarian guarantees failed to materialize, insolvency followed within months.
- The asset sale shows how a failed startup's technology can be repriced: Wanfeng paid €10M for assets carried at roughly €42M book value, a 76% discount.
- As Europe's first and best-funded eVTOL pioneer, its collapse — days after Lilium's — revealed the sector's reliance on certification timelines and political support rather than revenue.
What can be applied
Certification is a funding race: technical lead and industrial backers don't matter if capital runs out before approval, and state support can vanish on political timing.
Aftermath
As of September 2026 Volocopter operates under Wanfeng Group ownership with the brand intact, working with Diamond Aircraft's certification team on the two-seat VoloCity; Diamond's plants in Austria and Canada anchor manufacturing and more than 5,500 Diamond aircraft are in service worldwide. Headcount was cut sharply in the sale, and the larger VoloRegion program remains on the roadmap. Original shareholders received nothing from the insolvency; Wanfeng Aowei's filing valued the acquired assets at about €42M book value against the €10M purchase price.
Sources
- Insolvent German air cab Volocopter seeks investors
- Chinesischer Konzern will Volocopter übernehmen
- Volocopter rebounds with new owner, resumes certification path
- 万丰奥威子公司拟收购德国Volocopter 交易价1000万欧元
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